Almond Gâteau Breton

Let’s start with a little French lesson. Granted, I was only taught French as a side project in an advanced English class when I was in 5th or 6th grade. Luckily, all we need to know is that this is simply Almond Cake from Brittany. But the French name sounds so much more impressive, doesn’t it?

This cake is really, really simple to make. There is only a short list of ingredients, and those are things you’re likely to have in your kitchen. It mixes quickly and easily, too. In fact, this little cake is so good and so easy that you may find yourself turning to it again and again when you need a simple dessert.
Once baked, the cake is still a simple thing, but in a good way. It’s buttery and full of almond flavor. I’ve often read this type of cake described as a cross between pound cake and shortbread. I think that’s appropriate, as the outside is a bit crisp like shortbread and the inside is dense like a pound cake.

For serving the cake, simply dust it with a bit of confectioners’ sugar. It’s perfectly lovely just like that. I also like to serve it with a simple fruit sauce, like the blueberry compote in these photos. You could also take a shortcut route with lemon curd, fresh berries and whipped cream, or even just some warmed fruit preserves.

This cake recipe comes from one of my new discoveries, Bake from Scratch. As I’m all about baking from scratch, how could I not love a publication dedicated to that? The publisher was kind enough to send me a copy of their most recent issue, and you can get a copy as well by entering the giveaway below. Three entrants will be randomly chosen to receive one of these big, beautiful magazines! Scroll past the recipe to enter.

Almond Gâteau Breton

Yield:8 to 10 servings

Prep Time:25 minutes

Cook Time:30 minutes

This simple, buttery cake is wonderfully delicious and versatile. A great dessert for most any occasion!

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23 comments

Hi Jennifer! I am going to attempt to make this delish looking dessert – ALMOND GÂTEAU BRETON and have a few questions.
1. I love strawberries and would like to use instead of blueberries. Do you think strawberries would taste good on the cake and if so do you have a strawberry compote recipe (or just replace the blueberries in the blueberry compote)?
2. Can this be made in advance, such as one day or two days and just refrigerate?
3. Lastly, if you can make the cake in advance, do you remove from refrigerator one hour prior to serving?

Hi, Steph. I would recommend that you not substitute. If you forego the ground almonds, you’d need to add more flour. But adding more flour affects the gluten content, which would alter the texture of the cake.

Hi! I’m french and from Brittany, and traditionnaly we use a lot of salted butter and no almonds 😀 But it sounds delicious with almonds, so I will try 🙂 May you have some ideas for a glutenfree version??

Hi, Maggy! I’d never made this kind of cake, so thanks for a little more info on the original. I don’t bake gluten-free, so I’m generally hesitant to make any recommendations, as I don’t have first-hand experience and wouldn’t want to give you the wrong advice.

Hi, I’m not French (though I do speak it) and I do live in Brittany part of the year. I am having guests for dinner and making DAUB – trying to figure out what will be for dessert. Now I know. Thank you!

Here I am again, Jennifer. I have been completely unable to find whole blanched almonds. Can you give me a good estimate of how much almond meal I can use instead. Will 1/2 cup of whole almonds mean 1/2 cup of almond meal? Thanks.

Hi, Nikki. You’ll probably need slightly less volume of the almond meal to equal the same amount of almonds. If it were me, I’d measure by weight. A cup of whole almonds weighs about 5 ounces, so I’d aim for that with the almond meal.

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Welcome to BAKEorBREAK, or BoB as we affectionately call it. I’m Jennifer and this is my journal of over a decade of adventures as an amateur baker. The recipes you'll find as you browse through the recipe index tend toward low-effort, high-reward although you'll find some special "worth the effort" treats, too. There's sure to be something delicious for everyone. Happy baking!